While he may have jumped into the franchise realm with his turn as The Joker inSuicide Squad, Oscar-winning actorJared Letois keeping cozy with character-centric drama projects. Following in the footsteps ofHeath LedgerandJack Nicholsonwas a mighty big task, but now Leto is setting his sights even higher as he’s signed on to play famous pop artistAndy Warholin a new biopic. PerTHR, Leto will star in and produceWarholalongsideThe Social NetworkandCaptain PhilipsproducerMichael De Luca, with the duo aiming to craft a prestige mainstream project instead of a small indie biopic.
Boardwalk EmpireandVinylcreatorTerence Winter, who also scriptedThe Wolf of Wall Street, is set to pen the screenplay, which will useVictor Bockris’ 1989 bookWarhol: The Biographyas a jumping off point.
The Pittsburgh-born artist came from a family of working class emigrants and developed hypochondria at a young age, eventually finding his calling as an artist during his time at the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Warhol’s landmark work took aim directly at commercialism, using well-known imagery to comment on fame and consumerism. His life was one of eccentricity and a fame that transcended the art scene, rubbing elbows with a variety of personalities including President Jimmy Carter.
Leto, who won an Oscar for his supporting turn inDallas Buyers Club, seems like a swell pick to bring Warhol to life. Himself an artist and multi-faceted performer, Leto takes his artveryseriously, and one can only imagine the kind of stories that will result from his method acting turn as Warhol.
The project is not yet set up at a studio, but Leto is the cornerstone of this project and nabbing Winter to pen the screenplay will no doubt attract even more high-profile talent. It’ll be interesting to see how the cast fills out and what points of Warhol’s life the film will tackle, although Leto has another memorable Warhol portrayal to overcome inBill Hader’s underrated turn as the artist inMen in Black 3.
After resurfacing as an actor inDallas Buyers Club, Leto has taken a more prolific path to acting as of late. His turn as The Joker inSuicide Squadis not his last, as he’s signed to a multi-picture contract with Warner Bros. to appear throughout the DC Extended Universe. And he’s currently filming a key role inDenis Villeneuve’ssecretive untitledBlade Runnersequel. Given that Leto is a method actor and takes a certain amount of time to devote to each role, one imaginesWarholwill be a pretty massive undertaking.
